Landscapers and/or arborists are often called upon to prune trees whose branches are diseased or are growing in such away that they interfere with, or otherwise pose a threat to, a house or other structure, or the proper functioning of public utility lines (e.g. power lines, or telephone lines). In a typical pruning operation, a worker is lifted by a bucket truck to the area in need of trimming. Using a chainsaw-like tool mounted on a pole, the worker trims the problem branches from the tree. The trimmed branches are collected on the ground until the pruning job is completed, pending disposal. Disposal typically involves feeding the branches and/or brush into a wood chipper to reduce the branches and brush to wood chips.
One type of conventional wood chipper has an intake hopper, a chipper assembly for shredding the brush and a chute and blower assembly. The intake hopper is configured at one end to receive the branches to be chipped. At the opposite end thereof, the intake hopper communicates with the chipper assembly. The chipper assembly includes two opposed, counter-rotating discs or rollers which carry knives or teeth on their respective outer surfaces for chipping the brush. Located downstream of the chipper assembly, is the chute and blower assembly. The blower assembly is adapted to draw the wood chips from the chipper assembly and propel them through the chute. The orientation of the chute is adjustable so as to allow the wood chips to be discharged in a desired direction.
It is common practice in the field of tree trimming to have the chute of the wood chipper discharge the recently-formed wood chips into the loading bed of a transport truck. Once the transport truck is fully loaded, the wood chips are carted away from the work site. Often, the wood chips are treated like a waste by-product and taken to a landfill and discarded.
There are several drawbacks associated with this method of disposal. The wood chipper cannot be operated without a transport truck in place to collect the wood chips being discharged. Where a large tree has been felled and is being chipped, the transport truck may become filled before the chipping operation has been completed. Under such circumstances, the transport truck must leave the work site to be unloaded. During that time, the wood chipper remains idle pending the return of the transport truck. This tends to result in loss productivity and delays and tends to increase the overall cost of the pruning operation.
From an environmental perspective, the disposal of wood chips at a landfill site is not environmentally-friendly and is a very poor use of resources. The wood chips constitute valuable biomass which could be used as fuel. By burying the wood chips in a landfill, not only is the opportunity to monetize this resource lost but additional landfill costs are incurred, thereby making the pruning operation more expensive. Moreover, the disposal of wood chips in this manner tends to be a very inefficient use of space at a landfill.
In light of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to have an apparatus and method which could allow wood chips generated from tree trimming or pruning activities to be relatively easily, recovered, collected, stored and transported for use so as to minimize wastage of such wood chips and enhance utilization of natural resources.